W1 had two strong final races before bumps this weekend in Pembroke Regatta. The weather was glorious, and the results were pretty good too!
Our first race was Selwyn W1. We had little data on their form as they didn’t race in Head to Head or Newnham Short Course, but we went into the race cautiously optimistic. We had a strong start, and started inching away from them even in the first few strokes. By the middle of the reach we had a length on them, and continued to pull away to get that coveted ‘Easily’ result. We pulled into marshalling amidst a chorus of week 4 coughing to await our next opponents.
Our next race was a much tougher match – Emma W1, winners of Newnham Short Course (beating us by exactly 1 minute). Again, we started strong, and actually produced some of our smoothest and most gutsy rowing this term. Alas, Emma had a faster start, and pulled away by two lengths by the railway bridge. We were determined to give it our best shot though, and managed to hold them at this distance until the finish line (a considerable improvement on the previous result).
W1 have made huge improvements this term, and we’re going into bumps feeling determined. Bring on next week!
Many thanks go to Philip Wilkinson for stepping in to cox his second (!) crew that day, Martina Cheadle and Joscelyn Miller for bank-partying and much-needed Starbursts, Jill Vaughan for equally-needed post-race brownies, Silvia Breu and Tim Newton for wonderfully motivational and insightful coaching, and Claire Burridge for organisational wizardry and being Boat Mom.